Aspirations and Expectations of Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Students in Spain

Òscar Prieto-Flores,Jordi Feu

doi:10.5539/res.v7n12p121

Abstract

The expectations held by secondary school teachers play a key role in university access of immigrant and ethnic minority students. Even so, the majority of scientific research conducted in Spain has paid little attention to this, as well as giving little consideration to the exclusive and inclusive dynamics that can occur in secondary schools. When speaking about the educational success of these students, in general, we usually only look at elements relating to the capacities of these young people, endogenous to their own culture or to their socioeconomic environment. Although this last element is important, this study emphasizes the situation of access of these groups in a Spanish university and its area of influence and how the expectations of teachers and of their immediate surroundings are important in shaping the aspirations and expectations of minority students. We also highlight the elements that can contribute to overcoming low educational expectations and facilitate access to the university.

Highlights

Spanish society is becoming increasingly heterogeneous by virtue of, among other issues, the wave of immigration that has occurred over the past two decades
In Graph 1 we can observe that the foreign population in this age group in the districts of Girona is quite significant: 32.8% of young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are of foreign origin and a significant part are of extra-community origin (25%)
Regarding the distribution of the young population of foreign origin broken down into their different origins, the data reveals the hegemony of the African collective, which accounts for 12.7% of the aggregate population, followed by young people from the rest of the EU (7.8%), South America (5.9%), with the remaining groups following at a great distance

Summary

Introduction

Spanish society is becoming increasingly heterogeneous by virtue of, among other issues, the wave of immigration that has occurred over the past two decades. In only a short number of years (1998-2010), the foreign population grew from 1.6% of the total population to 12.1% (INE, 2010). Irrespective of this relatively recent phenomenon, Spain has been home to ethnic minorities for many centuries, as is the case of the Romani population. The objective of this article is to identify, on the one hand, the representation of minority students in a Spanish university and on the other, to analyze how the educational expectations of students of immigrant origin and ethnic minorities, and their immediate educational environment, can define their educational trajectory and access to the university

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion